California Geographical Society (CGS) Conference
A very exciting opportunity to present recent work!
In late April of this year (2025), five DECOMP Lab members attended the 79th annual California Geographical Society (CGS) Conference, which is a conference that historically has very limited attendance from UCSB. This year was different, however, because it was held in Turlock, California, at Stanislaus State University, which is a very special place for Germán Silva, a current PhD candidate in the lab. Germán is an alum of Stanislaus State University and has been a CGS member since they were an undergraduate student, so they and all of the other DECOMP members in attendance were very excited to visit Turlock and see Germán's old stomping grounds!
On the first day of the conference, the DECOMP crew got to go on a field trip to two local wetlands, including Dos Rios (Proposed) State Park and San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. They got to learn all about how the wetlands are managed, the wildlife that can be found there, how the locations were restored, and much more. While at the wildlife refuge, they saw a gang of endangered tule elk and various bird species! After the field trips, the DECOMP crew attended the CGS BBQ Social where they mingled with other undergraduates and attendees who had come from all over the state.
The next day was when attendees got a chance to share our work. Lena, Kathryn, and Jennifer presented posters on heavy metal contamination in UCSB's Wetland Space Garden, soil salinity's impacts on pickleweed chlorophyll content, and the geographic prevalence of photodegradation, respectively, and Germán gave a talk about their evidence-based Certificate in College and University Teaching project on AI and Climate Literacy in the classroom.
Lena, Kathryn, and Germán all were fortunate to receive recognition for their work. Lena was awarded the 2nd Place Undergraduate Joe Beaton Student Poster Award, Kathryn was awarded the David Lantis Undergraduate Scholarship, and Germán was the 1st place recipient of the Graduate Tom McKnight Student Paper Award. Congratulations to all of the DECOMP members who attended, and the lab is so proud and thankful for everyone's hard work!
